Preparation and Characterization of Lead Zirconate Thin Films by Chemical Solution Deposition

Lead zirconate (PbZrO3) thin films were grown on platinum-coated silicon substrates by a chemical solution deposition. The precursor solution for spin-coating was prepared from lead acetate trihydrate and zirconium oxynitrate dihydrate as starting materials and 2-methoxyethanol as solvent; the pervoskite PbZrO3 thin films have been obtained. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) reveals that the surface morphology smooth, and the average gain size is about 180 nm. The PbZrO3 thin films annealed at 650 °C showed a hysteresis loop at an applied electric field of 600 kV/cm with remanent polarization (P r) and coercive electric field (E c) electric values were 7.4 μC/cm2 and 210 kV/cm, respectively. At 100 kHz, the dielectric constant and dissipation factor of PbZrO3 film are 300 and 0.020, respectively. The refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k of the PbZrO3 thin films were obtained by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) as a function of the wavelength in rang from 345 to 1700 nm. At 633 nm, the refractive index n and extinction coefficient k ware 2.236 and 0.0474, respectively.